Guest view: Strong governor’s race will benefit Ohioans

Tuesday

Dec 5, 2017 at 12:01 AM

Columbus Dispatch

The 2018 Ohio governor’s race just got a whole lot more combative with Thursday’s announcement that two powerhouse candidates are teaming up.

The primary ticket of Mike DeWine, currently Ohio’s attorney general, and Jon Husted, the secretary of state, now leads the field in campaign cash, with a combined $8 million-plus on hand at the mid-year reporting period. GOP contender Mary Taylor was trailing badly in fundraising, while U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci had loaned his campaign $4 million.

By teaming up, DeWine-Husted conserve cash for a November fight and avoid fighting that would weaken the other.

This disadvantages both GOP and Democratic contenders, especially Richard Cordray, who is expected to enter the race this week. He narrowly lost the A.G.’s office to DeWine eight years ago and ended up in Washington, heading the embattled Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. While Cordray would have to play catchup in fundraising, he easily has the strongest name recognition in a robust Democratic field. And he has the right friends: former President Barack Obama and connections made on a national stage.

In 2014, the Democrats tapped a poorly vetted and wholly unprepared candidate for governor, then-Cuyahoga County Administrator Ed FitzGerald, who, it turned out — rather suspiciously — didn’t have a valid driver’s license. This time around, the field of candidates is largely exemplary, with deep experience in government. Leading candidates in both parties have a reputation for integrity and excellent administrative skills. Debate should be fierce, intelligent and enlightening.

Ohioans will be the winner in this race.

Wall Street lessons stuck

While Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s ties to Wall Street haunted his bid for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, it has proved quite useful for Ohioans.

The governor cut ties with Wells Fargo & Co. a year ago October, back when it was caught opening millions of phony accounts without customers’ knowledge.

Kasich froze for a year the state’s dealings under his authority with the bank, including future state debt offerings and financial-services contracts initiated by state agencies. This also excluded Wells Fargo from participating in debt offerings by the Ohio Public Facilities Commission.

This past October, Kasich remained squeamish about Wells Fargo’s sales practices and extended his ban through next April. He reportedly was unconvinced the internal culture — of greed and graft — had been repaired and opted to keep Wells Fargo on ice.

Some might say Kasich had great instincts. A week ago, came a new disclosure: Wells Fargo bankers were overcharging hundreds of clients on foreign-exchange fees to reap bonuses, then lied when customers raised questions, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Consider what the then-presidential candidate’s spokesman, Chris Schrimpf, told CNN news about Kasich’s tenure at Lehman, whose 2008 meltdown sparked the economic crisis: that it gave him critical firsthand experience of the dark side of the unchecked "Wall Street ambition."

Kasich was too low on the totem pole to have had any control over Lehman’s shaky practices, but he certainly came away wiser.

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